dening the tax base and reconsidering the rate structure. To arouse additional spending for plant equipment and equipment by the U.S. industry, Kennedy proposed a tax credit for new investment. Under the proposal if new equipment expenditures exceeded the depreciation allowance, a firm could deduct 15% of the excess, if equipment expenditures were in excess of one half of the depreciation allowance, they could deduct 6% of the excess. As a minimum credit a firm could deduct 10% of the first $5,000 of new investment.
             There was much opposition to this proposal in the business community but Kennedy argued its advantages over alternative incentives which were to cut in the corporation tax rate, because it would apply to individuals and partnerships as well as corporations. A credit for all new investment would entail heavy revenue loss from those expenditures which would have been undertaken anyway or represent no new level of effort.
             As the U.S. national debt reached the highest fiscal year, 289,211,154,060.05 in fiscal year 1961, congress responded to the President's request and increased the national debt ceiling for 1962 from the permanent level of $285 billion to $298 billion.
             A bitter minimum wage battle ended in 1961 when Congress passed a landmark legislation both raising the hourly minimum and for the first time since 1938, extending the categories of coverage. Kennedy came out on top with a major victory after an initial set back. Secretary of Labor said that the rate schedule was decided upon after careful study of the impact, the economic situation and the desirability of being certain the minimum rates will not adverely affect employment. Not all the 4.3 million new employees to be covered by the bill would receive wage increases. A number of the newly protected workers who were paid less than $1 per hour would receive $242 million in increases during the first year and that by the fourth year the 1,665,000 work...